Bloodlines

The first book in the Bloodlines series, a spin-off of the Vampire Academy series, is set in a world where three races of vampires coexist secretly alongside humans. The Moroi are living, mortal vampires who wield elemental magic. The Strigoi are undead, immortal vampires created through forced blood exchange or when a Moroi kills through blood drinking. The dhampirs are half-human, half-vampire hybrids who guard the Moroi. Keeping this hidden is the mission of the Alchemists, a secret society of humans who use chemistry, cover stories, and enchanted gold tattoos to ensure the vampire world remains undetected.

Sydney Sage, an eighteen-year-old Alchemist, is woken by her father, Jared, and summoned to his study, where Donna Stanton and other senior Alchemists are waiting. Sydney has been on suspension since helping Rose Hathaway, a dhampir fugitive, escape the authorities and fears being sent to a re-education center, a facility where Alchemists deemed too sympathetic to vampires are "corrected." Instead, the group reveals a crisis. Jillian Mastrano, the fifteen-year-old half-sister of Moroi queen Vasilisa Dragomir, has been attacked at the Moroi Royal Court. Because Moroi law requires the queen to have a living family member to hold the throne, Jill's enemies are targeting her to unseat Vasilisa. The Alchemists plan to hide Jill at a boarding school in Palm Springs, California, where the desert sun deters Strigoi. They need a young Alchemist to pose as Jill's roommate, and the assignment was intended for Sydney's younger sister Zoe. Sydney fights to take the assignment herself, determined to shield Zoe.

Keith Darnell, the local Alchemist in Palm Springs and the son of a prominent Alchemist leader, objects to Sydney's involvement. Sydney despises Keith for a secret reason: Years earlier, when he stayed with the Sage family, he raped Sydney's older sister Carly. Bound by her promise to Carly not to tell their parents, Sydney hired Abe Mazur, a powerful Moroi, to exact revenge; Abe staged a fake Strigoi attack and cut out one of Keith's eyes. Stanton overrides Keith and assigns Sydney. Her father gives her a cold farewell, praising Keith and warning Sydney not to embarrass the family. Zoe is furious, believing Sydney stole the assignment to humiliate her.

In Palm Springs, Sydney and Jill enroll as sisters at Amberwood Preparatory School under the surname Melrose. Eddie Castile, a dhampir guardian, poses as their brother, while Keith serves as local legal guardian. They visit Clarence Donahue, an elderly Moroi who believes his niece Tamara was killed by vampire hunters rather than Strigoi. At Clarence's estate, Sydney meets Adrian Ivashkov, a Moroi who wields spirit, a rare element associated with psychic abilities and healing. There she reunites with Jill, Eddie, and Rose. Clarence's son Lee Donahue, a college student, is also present.

At Amberwood, Sydney excels academically and befriends two senior girls, Kristin and Julia. She begins an independent study with Ms. Terwilliger, her ancient history teacher. Jill struggles: Her Moroi physiology makes her dangerously vulnerable to the desert sun, and she feels conspicuous among humans. Adrian is miserable at Clarence's and drinks heavily. Sydney discovers that students are obtaining illicit metallic tattoos from a local parlor called Nevermore. Copper "celestial" tattoos produce a euphoric high, while silver "steel" tattoos enhance athletic performance. When Kristin nearly dies from a reaction to a celestial tattoo, Sydney uses her chemistry training to save her life.

A pivotal revelation comes when Jill wakes Sydney before dawn and begs her to rescue Adrian from Los Angeles. Jill confesses the truth: During the attack at Court, she was stabbed and killed, and Adrian used spirit to resurrect her, creating a one-way psychic bond through which Jill involuntarily experiences Adrian's emotions, hangovers, and romantic encounters. This explains Jill's recurring illnesses and the insistence on keeping Adrian nearby. Sydney agrees to keep the bond secret. In Long Beach to retrieve Adrian, she learns that a Moroi girl named Melody was killed with her throat slit, the same method used on Tamara.

Sydney's analysis of residues stolen during a covert infiltration of Nevermore, where Adrian served as a distraction, confirms the compounds match Alchemist formulas. The vials contain vampire blood, and a clear liquid turns out to be vampire saliva, which produces the euphoric high. During the break-in, the tattooist mistakes Sydney's gold-lily Alchemist tattoo for a sign she is part of the supplier's network and mentions that "your friend" said the theft problem had been "taken care of." Sydney realizes Keith is the rogue Alchemist, draining blood from Clarence under the guise of investigating vampire hunters and selling it to Nevermore. He has been maneuvering to remove Sydney to protect his scheme, and her father, acting on Keith's reports, informs Sydney she will be recalled in two weeks.

Sydney orchestrates Keith's downfall by luring him to a restaurant while Adrian breaks into Keith's apartment and uncovers the evidence. Adrian calls Stanton, who dispatches agents. Keith returns home to find investigators waiting and is taken into custody.

Ms. Terwilliger assigns Sydney to recreate a spell from an old grimoire, or book of spells: an "incineration amulet" made from nettle, agate, and silk. Sydney follows every step but dismisses the result as meaningless. Ms. Terwilliger tells her to keep it. Separately, Sydney researches Kelly Hayes, a student murdered at Amberwood years earlier whose throat was slit in the same pattern as the other killings.

At Keith's vacant apartment, Sydney finds a prom photograph of Kelly with her date: Lee Donahue, who looks exactly the same age as he does now, five years later. Lee arrives, sees the photograph, and pulls a knife. He reveals he was once a Strigoi forcibly restored to Moroi status by a spirit user. Unable to age and desperate to become Strigoi again, he has been killing young women, including his own cousin Tamara, drinking their blood in failed attempts to trigger re-conversion. Adrian arrives to apologize after a recent quarrel and is captured. Lee calls two Strigoi, Dawn and Jacqueline, offering Sydney and Adrian as payment for being re-awakened.

The Strigoi drain Lee and attempt to convert him, but the spirit magic that restored him has permanently immunized him against becoming Strigoi again. Dawn bites Sydney but recoils, finding her blood "tainted" and inedible; the cause remains unexplained. Both Strigoi turn to Adrian. Sydney frees herself, hurls Ms. Terwilliger's amulet at Dawn while shouting the incantation, and the amulet ignites on contact. Eddie bursts in with a silver stake, alerted by Jill, who sensed Adrian's terror through the bond. Jill uses her water magic to strike Jacqueline, creating an opening for Eddie to stake her. Eddie then kills Dawn. When Adrian tries to heal Sydney with spirit, she recoils at the thought of vampire magic touching her and refuses.

Investigators confirm that spirit restoration permanently prevents Strigoi re-conversion. Stanton proposes that Adrian collaborate with Sonya Karp, another restored Strigoi, on spirit research and offers Keith's apartment as incentive. She offers to let Sydney leave now that Angeline Dawes, a dhampir, is being sent as Jill's bodyguard, but Sydney asks to stay. Sydney confronts Ms. Terwilliger, who reveals she knows about the Alchemists and tells Sydney she possesses genuine magical talent; Sydney refuses further involvement. As Adrian settles into his apartment, he tells Sydney she is beautiful with an intensity that unnerves her. Abe arrives with Angeline, then Sonya Karp arrives, and then Dimitri Belikov, Rose's boyfriend and another restored Strigoi, steps through the door. Adrian goes pale, and Sydney realizes the fragile peace they have built is about to be tested.